yesterday, i put information in an employment website to get more information to broaden my jobsearch efforts. it is a real bad economy and a real bad job market and i'm doing everything i can.

it started immediately!

i started getting spam to pay this for this resume circulation and pay that for a chance at this job. i started getting offers for lines of credit and loans, student or business capital otherwise on my phone and email. i've even had it come in via text message. wow!

i've received phonecall after phonecall from this business school and that vo-tech school while i'm trying to send out resumes and cover letters; spewing me promises about this student loan and this salary after graduation.

you people are killing me ... not to mention how POed i am that you have all made an industry on preying on the unemployed. you all should be ashamed of yourselves.

once i get myself established in another job, i am going to get another new computer, change my phone number, set up a new e mail account and have to flip every account i have with every group and business on the internet.

what a slimey business.

i'm gonna run a full scan now. if anyone has received anything fishey from me, i apologize and please ignore it.

since this is a thread and i already talked to mike on the phone and told him my story, here it is for everyone else.

i went thru the same thing but nobody hijacked my contactlist. maybe because i don't use yahoo email?

but, i applied to an online insurance website to get the cheapest rates, and got 3 months worth of spam that had nothing to do with my insurance request quotes. i got 57 texts and v.mails on a cellphone that i only use in an emergency so it is never turned on.i use email addys specifically for doing things like that because i have been thru it all before.

always keep a couple non used emails floating around, and it helps now-a-days to have a magic-jack or equivalent USB voip number plugged in at 20 buks a year so it's not your own phone

It's a shame that with the advent of new technology, you get some really horrid downsides along with the great upsides. The web, modern cell phones, all of it has made to world smaller and smaller, and enabled information to get all over the globe in an instant. Good and bad information, that is.

It's like those stupid, stupid, STUPID spammer emails asking me "Eric, would you like to have bigger breasts?"

MadMike, I am SO on the same page as you with this. So many bottom-feeding scumwads try and take advantage of folks who are struggling, and it pisses me the you-know-what off. Whether it's from so-called job agencies, credit card companies, or some bank, it's absolutely criminal that these jerkfaces can get into your email account and wreck havoc.

Although it isn't the same thing, let me share with you Guys a story, and I will try (and yet again, fail) to keep it brief.

Back in 2008 as I made preparations to move here to Washington, I had to get rid of some things Linda and I had in our old apartment, including our queen bed set. I ran a Craigslist ad, and asked for $150. I got a response: "I am on my honeymoon in Hawaii, and I would love to buy the bed set for our new home. Let have your mailing address." I sent my work address, just to be safe. No biggie, right? WRONG.

The next day, I get a message "Oh, I am so sorry! My secretary made a HUGE mistake, and instead of making the check for $150, she wrote it as $1500 dollars. She has already sent it to you, so it is too late to get it back. I think you seem trustworthy, so if you could cash the check, take your $150, and Western Union me the balance...." Hmmm....I smell a rat! So what ensued was a series of emails back and forth as I tried to get the "real story". I noticed that with each new email, the English got worse and worse. "Please to send the balance monies for merchandise", or something like that.

Now, remember that the guy told me that his secretary had already sent the check. So about a week later, I get this envelope....a UPS Next Day Air envelope! Hmmm....so why did he say that his secretary had sent it already, when it clearly wasn't sent until a week later?

Fortunately, I had heard of the Nigerian scams that are this exact thing, and I knew that I was being targeted. There was no way I was going to even open the envelope, let along cash that bogus check.

Since I ran the shipping department of my company for almost a decade, I know a thing or two about researching UPS shipments. A Google Earth check of the return address revealed an empty stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. The UPS account was genuine, but I could not trace it. So I took the unopened envelope, wrote "Return To Sender. No One Here With That Name" on it, and gave it to our UPS driver. I then tracked in online to see where it would wind up.

A day later, the tracking page read "Shipment Returned To Sender".

The next day, "UPS Has Encountered An Exception With Shipment. Package Being Held".

And the next day, "Package Seized By Federal Agents. UPS Has No Further Information".

We received an email from someone we knew that said they were in London & got robbed & wanted us to wire them $25.00. we ignored it.turns out some highjacked his email & contacts sent it to everyone on his Email list.